Can't Stay Away
by untouchable hexing witch
Summary: Sequel to Can't Say Goodbye. Jubilee comes back to the mansion after all the chaos with Apocalypse. [Jubilay Oneshot]


O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O Disclaimer O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

X-men Evolution and all it's characters belong to Marvel...if they belonged to me things would be way different ;)

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O **O** O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

Boo! Well here I am with the last oneshot to my short Jubilay Trilogy!

Many thanks to: Little Gem Magnolia, Xmangal, Thriller, Fiya, NaijaStrawberrie, Guest, Listeninggame, Razell, Sonar, and Roguequen69 for reviewing either the first or second (or both) oneshot.

I Hope you guys like this one and don't forget to review! Dedicated to all the jubilay fans out there :)

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O **Can't Stay Away** O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

Almond shaped eyes looked at the massive beige color structure with awe. She had been back for an hour and Storm had already given her a tour of the newly built mansion but she still couldn't get over the shock of how it stood where it always had looking as if nothing had happened. Almost as if it had all been a dream.

Of course she knew that it hadn't been. Even though she was looking at the full structure, thoughts of the rubble that had been in it's place months before were still etched in her mind along with the acrid smell of the smoke.

For a small moment she wanted to pretend that it all had been a dream but then again by wanting that it would mean that everything that had happened because of that day wouldn't have happened and there were a few things she couldn't say she would take back.

Her fingers went to her lips and she felt a sudden heat on them. It was amazing how just the memory of the kiss she had given a certain electricity wielding boy made heat radiate off her. It was even more amazing that she felt that way and it had been a little more than three months since she had last seen him. She should have gotten over it by now. It had just been a small thank you peck for watching out for her and the others that night in the Morlock tunnels. It hadn't meant anything...well that's what she kept telling herself but considering that it still made her feel the way that it did she doubted there was any truth to it.

She frowned at the thoughts and shook her head making any warmth she was feeling disappear. For the moment it was better that she kept these thoughts quiet and to herself, though she had a sinking feeling that one other person suspected them. How that person knew, she wasn't sure, but she suppose it came with being the best friend. You knew things without getting told.

Through her absence her parents had been pretty strict. They watched her like hawk and even any calls to the mansion were restricted. At the time they had taken her out of Xavier's they had wanted to cut all ties that lead to anyone discovering that she was a mutant. She was glad that her parents loved her and were worried about her but there was such a thing as smothering and both her parents went a little overboard on it. After the second month with the help of some begging and pleading they finally let up on the harsh rule. Calls were now allowed, unfortunately she was still told to keep the conversation short but she was not going to complain. Something was better than nothing.

There were plenty of people she could have asked for when she dialed the number, even one that she specifically wanted to yell at due to their non existent farewell but the moment her lips parted they only asked for one person going as far as being rude enough to not even greet the person who had answered the phone.

That must have been the perk of being the roommate and best friend, being the first one that comes to mind. Amara had been excited to finally hear from her, so excited that the first conversation were incoherent babbles about how much one missed the other. The calls after that were still brief but a bit more informational and up to date on the happenings of the mansion. She never asked for anyone other than Amara though, and at some point she realized that that might have been a wrong choice because as much as she loved her ex-roommate she was not a gossip, meaning she was missing out on a lot of juicy information.

Once again, Amara was not a gossip. She either talked about what she had done that day or group activities with the others, so it came as a surprise when the tanned skinned beauty started randomly talking about the flirting antics of their craziest team member. It was even more surprising when she mentioned that no matter how hard the blonde girl was trying to throw herself at a certain boy, he was not giving her the time of day.

She wouldn't comments about these tidbits of information though, not even when Amara would give a pregnant pause to gauge a reaction. She would have been lying if she said that the gossip don't peak her interest though.

Tabitha was a pretty girl, well endowed too. She was fun, crazy and sporadic. She had a lot to offer, so in all honestly she was kind of surprised _he_ hadn't jumped at the opportunity. She definitely wouldn't have blamed him.

"Can't stay away can you?"

Jubilee smiled at the familiar voice. Speak of the devil. She didn't bother turning around and instead waited for the approaching footsteps to stop besides her. When they finally did her head gave a slight turn to take a good look at the intruder of her thoughts. They were out of uniform and their head was tilting up to look at the mansion.

"I guess not," she replied in a low voice before turning back to the mansion.

"...it's amazing how fast it was rebuilt huh? Almost makes it feel like it didn't even happen..."

Jubilee found herself nodding, "Almost..." Things stayed quiet for a few seconds before she added, "So, you back for good? Or still bouncing back and forth?"

"Mara didn't keep you updated?" The tone of voice was teasing making the Asian girl give a smirk. When there was no answer the blonde shook her head, "I'm back here...back home. Kind of like you right? Seems like it doesn't matter whether we try and run away or get taken away we still get pulled back here..."

Jubilee nodded, "How come you're not with the others? Storm said the mansion was empty because there was a training session with the Brotherhood."

"There so many of us that they split the teams into two. My training session isn't until tomorrow, whoevers not here is probably just out and about killing time before the others get back."

Jubilee nodded and the duo remained quiet again. After a full minute Jubilee found herself tuning again, "You know I didn't tell anyone I was coming back, not even Amara."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah...so I have to ask, why aren't you surprised to see me?"

Tabitha smirked, "Am I supposed to be?"

"Uh? Yeah! I just told you, no one knew I was coming."

"Right, well...sorry to burst your bubble firecracker but we've been expecting you."

"You have? How?!"

"Because, _he's_ engraved it into our heads that you would be back."

"...Who?" Jubilee asked not realizing that she had started to hold her breath as she waited for the answer.

Tabitha gave her a pointed look, "You know who."

"..."

"I still remember the first I heard him say it. It was a little after the mansion was done being rebuilt. You remember our chore board?"

Jubilee scoffed, "Like I could forget it. I may have been gone but I still had nightmares of my name being put next to the blackbird."

Tabitha grinned at the answer, "Well the mansion was blow up but guess what survived?"

"No way!"

"It must be cursed or something," Tabby answered agreeing before her expression turned somewhat serious, "Anyway, after Apocalypse and the mansion being rebuilt everything went back to normal, including having to do our regular chores again the only thing that was different was that you and Rahne weren't here..."

"..."

"...So...Bobby decided that we should erase your names off the board."

"Harsh."

Tabitha shrugged, "We hadn't heard from either of you yet...life kind of keeps going on, you know? He managed to get Rahne's name off but when he neared yours he suddenly stopped...

"..."

"...We all felt it, the electronic charge in air. It was pretty bad, my hair was literally spiking up. I turned to look at Ray and he was giving Bobby the dirtiest look ever! And you know Bobby, he didn't back down. He would have fried if we didn't intervene, and while we were pulling them apart he yelled it out. ' _Don't touch it because she will be back'_..."

Jubilee didn't comment on the statement it but she felt the small hairs in her arm go up.

"And I guess he did a good job intimidating everyone else because no one touched it. Again, I'm surprise Princess didn't tell you about any of that..."

"We never had more than a few minutes..." Jubilee answered, finally finding her voice.

"Hm, still pretty weird that she didn't mention it. Maybe, instead of you surprising us she wanted you to be the one surprised cause I can tell you now, no one else will be..."

"That little sneak..."

"Yeah, she's not innocent as she seems," Tabitha joked and turned and to the petite Asian girl. She then surprised her by leaning in and hugging her. "I guess I have the honor of being the first to welcome you back...so welcome back Jubbie."

"Thanks Tabby..." She answered and returned the hug. Seconds into it though, the smile she had plastered on her face faltered as she heard the added whisper…

"And just in case you're wondering, I'm not going after him anymore. After a while it seemed like a lost cause."

Jubilee started to pull away after the words making Tabitha give a small smile. She then tilted her head sideways in amusement as the petite Asian shook her head, ""I don't know what you're talk..."

"Of course you don't," the blonde interrupted her as he completely moved away and moved to the side of her to start walking past her. "I'll talk to you later..."

Jubilee nodded dumbly before her head tilted up to look at the mansion again as she heard the scrunches of Tabitha's footsteps walk away. Her eyes widened though when she heard her voice again.

"She's all yours Sparky."

The crunching footsteps that she had assumed were Tabitha's started getting louder and with every sound her heartbeat started to accelerate. The footsteps stopped when they finally reached her and she assumed that the pounding of her heart would stop with them but the sound only got louder. She didn't bother turning to face him. With the nickname 'Sparky' she could only assume it was one person. The the dark blue uniform she could make out through her peripherals along with the height difference between them confirmed her thoughts.

"It looks good doesn't it? Almost can't tell that it was in shambles a few months ago..."

"...Yeah..." She hadn't realized she had been holding her breath until the reply came out in a dry raspy voice.

She felt goosebumps on her skin as his chuckle filled the air, "You ok there?" He asked in a teasing voice.

Jubilee coughed and couldn't help the movement of her eyes as they rolled, "Fine," she responded scathly before adding, "And the mansion looks good from the outside but who knows how it looks on the inside. I wouldn't doubt that something is messed up especially if you helped in the rebuilding."

"Damn, and here I thought your time away was going to make you nicer."

Jubilee gave a small smiled, "I am nice."

There was a scoff followed by a, "If you say so…" after the words they both stayed quiet and still as they continued looking at the structure in front of them. It would be a whole minute later before the silence was broken. "So, what did Tabitha tell you?"

"What do you mean?"

"She must have told you something good for her to give me that smile she gave me as I passed her."

Jubilee feel heat started spreading throughout her face and she was thankful she hadn't turned to face him, "Nothing interesting really."

"Your face is getting red."

Oh, that's right, just because she wasn't looking at him didn't mean he wasn't looking at her.

She unconsciously bit her bottom lip before her face turned and her almond shaped eyes finally looked at him. His blue orbs were in fact watching her, studying her. After a few seconds her head gave a small shake and she looked away.

"She didn't say anything we didn't already know."

"Which is?" He pushed.

"...That I would be back."

"...Hmm...She told you about what happened with Bobby."

"...Yeah..." She answered not knowing what else to say. He nodded and she finally felt him look away from her.

"How'd you enjoy your time off?"

She gave a small shrug, "Nothing too exciting. Spent most of the time at home or at the mall but even there I didn't get any real alone time. My parents literally watched me the whole time."

"That bad? How you managed to have to get them to let you come back?"

"The news finally eased up on the mutant menace but I basically had to sit them down and tell them that I am what I am and they couldn't keep me cooped up forever. If I got found out at I'd be alone and it would be even worse...at least here I'm not alone..." She gave him a small glance, "here I have friends, the instructors..."

He nodded, "We have each other..."

"Yeah, that along with the explanation that things can get worse and I should learn how to defend myself did the trick."

"Wow, you really held your own."

"Yeah...it probably didn't hurt that I threaten to run away either..."

"...You were determined."

"You did say I'd find my way back... and you were right. I guess it's a good thing you really believed that...means I didn't let you down..."

"..."

"What about you? Lots of excitement while I was gone, huh?"

"Not really, most of it was spent helping rebuild the mansion or training."

"With the enemies! That sounds exciting?"

"The trainings we're doing? Nah, they're not as great as they sound. Most of the time it's just X23 and Quicksilver down each other's throats trading insults. I don't know how the adults think they're actually going to get along."

Jubilee found herself smiling, "That's sounds like fun to me. More fun than I was having anyway..."

"Maybe that part is, but honestly I think I'm kind of happy you weren't here for a bit."

Jubilee frowned at the comment and turned to give him a dirty look. He turned to her too and just gave a small chuckle at the expression, "I don't mean it in a bad way...it's just...that fight with Apocalypse was a little brutal. It was nice knowing you were out of harms way."

"I don't know if I should think that's sweet or an insult," she replied still frowning.

"Take it as sweet, you wouldn't have wanted to be here. It was losing a battle."

"The fight with Storm was that bad?"

"See you didn't need to be there, you're already well informed, but yeah...it was kind of bad. She would have fried me to a Crisp."

"Lame."

"I wasn't making a pun."

They high stared at each other in silence for a few minutes before Jubilee started to fidget under his gaze and turned away. After a bit more time she cleared her throat, "You know I was kind of mad at you when I left. I think a little part of me might still be.

"Hmm."

"Hmm, that's all you're gonna say? You're not even going to ask why?" Her eyebrow perked even though she wasn't staring at him.

"I don't have to ask, I'm going to go ahead and guess that it had something to do with me not saying goodbye."

"Oh so you do know, that mean you were being a jerk on purpose?"

She heard a sigh before she heard his voice, "I wasn't being a jerk, I just didn't see the purpose of saying goodbye if you were coming back."

"But there was no guarantee I was coming back!"

"Of course you were coming back, you're an X-men."

"But you didn't know that for sure! I could have been gone forever and if I was you wouldn't have ever said bye, doesn't it make you sad?"

"Why are we even fighting over this. You're here so it makes all those what ifs pointless!"

"..."

"..." Ray sighed and turned to give her a glance frowning once he caught sight of her pouted lips. He watched her for a few seconds before clearing his throat, "...There might have been another reason I decided not to say goodbye to you."

The confession made her turned to him but she remained silent letting him continue.

"Do You remember that night in the tunnels?"

"...Yeah."

"You gave me something that night, and if I had said bye I would have wanted to return it. And honestly it wouldn't have been a good time. We had just been outed out, labeled monsters and you were leaving. Things were complicated enough, I didn't want to add anything else to that. That ended up being a good decision too because weeks later we had to deal with Apocalypse and trying to save human kind...I'm kind of glad I didn't have the distraction."

"Distraction? I would have been a distraction? What you think you would have had to look out for me if I had been there? Let me remind you that I've gone through the same training you have! I can take care of my…" Jubilee stopped talking when she felt pressure on her mouth. Her eyes widened and she looked at the fingertips pressed against her lips.

"I'm starting to regret missing you. I had forgotten how much you like to talk…" he smirked when she pulled her head and her lips parted to retort. Before she could say anything though his hand followed and he pressed the finger tips back to her lips. "Will you hold on and let me finish? I didn't mean distraction in a bad way, I know you can hold your own and you don't need babysitting. I meant...you know what nevermind what I meant! Again, why are we even fighting, you're back and that's all that matters."

She pulled away and frowned, "We're fighting because you're a jerk and you say dumb things."

He pulled his hand away and put them up in the air in defeat, "Fine, I'm a jerk, happy?"

"Not really."

"Should I return what you gave me and see if that helps?"

"I don't remember giving you anything but I don't think I want it back. I'd hate to complicate things for yo…" Jubilee found herself getting quieted again before she could finish. There was pressure to her lips once again but this time the pressure on them wasn't as heavy and the skin she felt was softer than before. The shock she felt at seeing his face so close to her own melted away as the pressure of his kiss got a tiny bit harder and she found her eyes closing as his lips gently nipped on hers.

She swallowed hard when he pulled away seconds later and her eyes stayed shut as the breath of his whisper caressed her lips and he whispered, "Welcome home Jubilee."

It had been a hard few months. Mutants being discovered and feared by the world. Being kept away, keeping these thoughts and secret desires in and to herself, but as his scent took over her senses and he nipped at her again she was suddenly very content.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O **End** O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

That's it! That's the end! Hope it fit in well with the first two oneshots and that it was an ending you enjoyed :) thanks for sticking around and hope you'll review :)

 **RH Readers** : I'm not even going to lie, I have thought about the next rh chapter very very little...I know what's gonna happen in the chapter but I have yet to start it. But it's not my fault! I blame Elder Scrolls Online! It's taken over my soul! Seriously, you know what my day consist of? Sleep-work-workout-play-sleep. That's it! Anyway, I will be starting the next chapter but I can't guarantee that it will be up very soon. No worries though, I'm not gonna forget my baby :p I'll see you guys soon (hopefully) ;)


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